Phantogram Makeup

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Hello friends!
Welcome back to another post where I geek out about an album and I string you along with me, utilizing only the promise of a mediocre makeup look. Glad you could join me.

   If you've been following my blog for the past couple of months, you might have seen me do my makeup based off of both Hozier's Wasteland, Baby! album and Foster The People's Sacred Hearts Club album. But if this is your first time stumbling into this unofficial series on G&N, I'll give you a little explanation. Basically, if an album really resonates with me, I share my thoughts on it and then do some sort of makeup look based off the album's artwork. What's wild about today's post is that I'm actually going to give my thoughts on two albums, and arguably Phantogram's most popular albums, Eyelid Movies and Voices.

   I've been binging Phantogram's music for a couple of months now, drawing the pieces between songs that I've heard in the past, and songs with beautiful sounds I've been deprived from for far too long. I've shuffle-played all their works on Spotify, but these albums really come out on top for me. With haunting vocals, accompanied by mellow instruments, there's a depth to these albums that feel unmatched from others. I can also feel an almost nostalgic effect of the echo details and the raging choruses throughout their songs. All of their work should be more appreciated, in my opinion (listen with headphones, people). And can we take a moment to shoutout Black Out Days (from Voices)? I fully blast this shit in my car. I didn't think it would be possible for me to find a song I loved as much since Little Dark Age by MGMT came out, but this one is easily my favorite track by Phantogram, and probably my top song of 2021 (even though Voices was released in 2013...I'm telling you, I've been deprived of this stuff).

   And now that I've given a summary of the albums' auras, let me walk you through the album artwork and the goal in mind for how I'm incorporating the covers into my makeup today.

   Conveniently, both of the albums I chose have similar color schemes--black, white, and gold. Eyelid Movies has a golden bokeh effect over a stark black background, accompanied by white text. Voices has a grayscale image of Sarah and Josh, where they're cloaked in geometric shadowing, also over a black background, joined with gold and white text. And I think something can be said about the covers versus the sounds of the albums. It shows the union of a hauntingly deep sound and these bright, powerful, and punchy instrumentals. So for today's makeup, I'm going to give myself lots of smokiness and a pop of rich gold. Let's dive in.

   I started my makeup off with a blank canvas. Well, sort of. I had just gotten off work when I took these photos, so I still admittedly have some mascara residue left over. But alas, my game plan is to go dark with today's makeup, so a little mascara won't hurt.

   In preparation, I moisturized my skin and mentally prepared for a potentially messy makeup look. Also I attempted to play with lighting here in honor of Voices' cover.

   Next, I did some basic skin prep. I covered some of my spots, I applied light blush, and I did some contouring along the way. I also filled in my eyebrows.

   To make the brightest pop of yellow/gold possible, I placed some white eyeshadow from Morphe in the corners of my eyes, where I planned to later pop on some gold. I wasn't too worried about how clean this came out, since it was just for underneath other eye shadows anyways.

   Next, I used another Morphe palette to pop some yellow over that white for brightness. Once again, I still wasn't too worried about the messiness of this layer. I also used a super light yellow shade as a highlight on my browbone, to stay in that color scheme.

   Next step was to cloak on that black shadow, bit by bit. My goal was build it darker the further out you went on the lid/crease. I wish I had gotten some sort of actual primer for this task, but I still pushed through the application and cleanup of this heavy task.

   I ended up also smudging some of that black shadow along my lower lash line, to bring the deep look all around my eye. I then dabbed an e.l.f. liquid eyeshadow over that yellow in my inner corners. Lastly, I added some liquid eyeliner to make more defined cat eyes among my eyeshadow.

​   And to finish the look, I used a Glossier roll-on highlighter, some black liquid matte lipstick, and a mascara from Covergirl. And people, we've got a look.

   It has its flaws, but hey, we don't promise too much on this blog, people.
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   Also, if you're confused about why I've not listen some of my products, it's because I'm slowly transitioning to an all vegan/cruelty-free makeup selection. I only really want to shoutout the products that follow my new standards while the others phase out. But feel free to reach out or comment if you're got any curious questions!
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As always, thank you for reading. Stay healthy, and keep on grinning!

​Lydia